Ismael Cruz Córdova on getting cast in ‘The Rings of Power’ despite initial rejection

you fought for Lord of the Rings as well I read that you were in a tent tent accomodation and recording videos and there's a sandstorm in the back like is Cruz cord yes we're at the pig and whistle in New York in Manhattan this is saki saki yeah and it's it's unfiltered saki which is nigori Sak and um e uh one cheers well cheers how did you get into saki in the first place through sushi sushi yeah right cuz you're having sushi you order sh and like and yeah know I just loved it I just loved it and like getting a little bit of the history Y at all you're an actor yes how did you get here own there be very careful Dr Fraser you got to learn how to use one of these aala bullet aala sett was everything I came from a place you know poor but not a lot of Puerto Ric in Puerto Rico yeah and like in in in a specific neighborhood of Puerto Rico uh rural growing up in an in an environment that people didn't have a voice completely disenfranchised not part of any type of conversation not part of any like political or social like complete you know that's you go work and then you go tuck away like you know that's the kind of thing by the time I was like seven I had moved about 10 times and like some of those like one of those houses that I remember quite vividly like the kitchen and kitchen and living room uhhuh whatever was it was that was dirt floor that one I remember you know the like it's like a movie almost like because it's such a removed reality from where I am at right now yeah even I mean like the The Arc of like of where been where I came to where I am even to me it sounds like an impossibility sometimes you know but yeah I mean I I remember like we in that one we showered outside like it was like a showered outside yeah like they built like these with four panels like wooden panels and just put the garden hose at the top you know thr a hole and these frogs these big frogs were around you while you were showering and I don't like them what does that create in you that environment for me I was extremely curious and I I always had this struggle um along with my curiosity CU I was been extremely curious um it created the sense of like why not not us why not me yeah like it but just like why why are we why AR we part of the conversation why why can't we also go to that school why can't I also have that education why don't we have a voice realizing that we were so tucked away so it let me in a journey of trying to find something I read that you were a swimmer yeah and you were really good I was very good that's the thing I kep I kept trying to see what was the thing that was going to get me out and like and uh extremely strategic and swimming was it you get a scholarship because of that that's how I went to um this very important prep [Music] school you go to NYU in New York yeah and is it true you arrive with like a laundry bag full of stuff two two that's the thing like like you didn't have suitcases nothing nothing like at nothing and like it was Uncharted Territory I made all the research myself I wrote all the essays myself all the applications I remember in JFK like picking up my two laundry bags and then at welcome week at NYU that all the parents are there you know where their kids aren't there no I'm by myself with two laundry bags but like just like smiling this broadly but starting to understand smiling cuz you're like this is it this is it that was my dream that was my dream you know and and but it was rough for not not having that that support of course I feel myself almost wanting to cry I mean honestly that is a journey don't cry have some no no no just just that peace and that's and that's not even where you are now like that just those hurdles that you I mean I don't if they're hurdles but like those challenges that you had to get past to get where you are it's incredible yeah yeah and it shouldn't be that way either a lot of people talk always about the silver lining of things and everything happening for a reason or what not and of course there's a component we can philosophize about all that but there are some things that don't need to happen there are some things that are not necessary to happen that we can correct how do you get the role on Sesame Street does H rhyme with Mando yeah you know I was I woke I wake up this morning to like a bunch of messages you see audition for this thing do you know that this is happening this this big National call that they had but I knew that I needed an appointment if I wanted to to actually um rise above the hundreds and hundreds of even have a manager at that point no no but I was but that's the thing that I've always had these yeah I was very brave about certain things and I said I need an appointment but this sounds like manifesting it right knowing what you have to do to get to where you are you know and and knowing that a lot of these rules as we're talking about they're made and that's the them they're made with people like myself um at the moment they're not made with us in mind you know so you have to challenge them and you have to challenge that kind of authority in that kind of system and I did I did all the time and I still do you know I still write letters to uh casting directors or directors when I'm passionate about a project whether I get it or [Music] not you fought for Lord of the race as well say what you wish to say I have said it already 100 times over in every way but words I was auditioning for almost like 7 months I get the audition for Rings the first one and then I'm in New York then I go to La and I do the second one then I I get this movie in South Africa and I do I think I do my third and fourth one when I'm in the desert in South Africa like I read that you were in a tent yeah cuz tent accommodations I recording video yeah and there's a sandstorm in the back like there's an audition what you hear like just like in the back like that you're doing these to to like show them your work yeah show them what you can do I mean they kept give me call backs but by the time that I was in in South Africa my I think my first rejection came when I was there um rection yeah they were like listen this is going a different direction I me you're not going to get the part yeah you're not going to get the part and no I just send an email to my team I was like No period and they know by this they know my spirit and they're like okay as long as we're all on the same page let's fight for this why why were you so convinced that you were the guy for this I there's a self-belief there's a little thing here that tells me that this is what like there's certain roles like this is mine I love florid of the Rings I always love the elves and I was like no I want to I want to do a character like that they're like okay let's do a call back like do another one and then I get that one that that rejection as well you know and that one was like it's a wild Story how I got that audition cuz there was no wife there like I waited like 8 hours to upload with that very slow connection and it failed but they uploaded it to someone's phone that person drove it an hour to the next town like through the desert just a straight shot and they went to this motel and like uploaded it and then I got another no how do you turn it how do you end up with the role so we I end up fighting for like I keep fighting for it we keep pursuing this theop park um the casting director also that's why casting directors are unsung Heroes as well and they're often leading the charge and I'm just like fighting fighting but then they're like listen there's a third time the final time they say listen he's wonderful and uh we like what he's doing as an actor but it's going in a different direction and that's when I get back to New York City and then suddenly my manager calls me she's like um so they want you to go new to New Zealand on Monday this is like a Saturday and I just said what do these people want you know by that point I was just like over it you know I was like they said no three times three times but I I I just knew I always knew the whole process that if I would meet them in person that they would know that like the the soul of the character I understood it you know and I went and I was like the Dark Horse kind of thing and that's exactly how it was like they met me and I did my audition and they saw it and they well apparently cuz here we are season two yeah season two wow that is a story yeah and that's like the the the short version I know you're on season two right now of five they've committed to right yes that's that's a lot of work that's a lot of years that's a lot of years every two years because that's what it takes and you're weaving in other stuff you you just shot a movie yeah I shot two movies I shot two movies back to back I sh the pickup with Eddie Murphy Eva Longoria uh Kiki polymer Jack kessie Davidson um Pete Davidson Pete Davidson yeah um amazing I thinkk you very I love it it's like a heist comedy action I cannot wait oh no it was wonderful wonderful uh and the other movie and the other one's called The Bluff uh it's prianka Chopra Carl Urban uh Tamira morison Yours Truly uh and that's uh Pirates can we do some rapid fire questions yeah let's favorite part about this role how broken he is I love that complexity because we all have a crack we all have a fracture we all have a somewhere that that like there's no there's no one that's not dealing with darkness and I love characters like that and how much he leads with the heart just like myself he just goes for it you know best advice you ever got you know the older ladies when I left poro that's I mean M I don't know if this is the best one one but it's one that pops up to mine don't sell your soul what it means to me is like to stay stay true close to your essence you know and that really I mean that really becomes more and more important apparent as you go especially doing this thing SM cor cheers I have a little bit left I have a little bit left I have a little bit left there thanks for watching our YouTube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app